As one of the hands fell, the body of the corpse exploded. Writhing entrails ripped themselves free from their flesh prison and began to whip around, searching for something to hold on to. Blood and viscera splattered across the rubble as the animated head and remaining hand were thrown free of the ruins of the corpse, freeing them to roam. The entrails, sensing a life force, stiffened, then shot forward to grasp at the monster, who's snarl became a cry of terror.
Truly struck fast by hardened ectoplasm and bloody viscera, the monster could do nothing to stop the grasping hand and animated head from attacking it.
On the off chance
If both are active, ready to shoot whichever ones win. If only 1 is active, then shoot it :-)
for
Amalthia looks a little pleased with herself that she got the nurse stuck--at least until the other body explodes in a burst of gore and entrails. Then she screams. Loudly.
"Eeeeeeek!"
Realizing that screaming loudly and making a spectacle of yourself when a pile of murderous entrails are looking for a new home is probably not the wisest course of action, Amalthia slaps a hand over her mouth in order to muffle her own screams.
"Mmmmmmmf!"
With a hand over her mouth and wide frightened eyes, Amalthia watches the gruesome scene before her. Too shocked to do much of anything.
Desna save us! WHAT IS GOING ON?!
Victor's jaw drops at the horrific sight before him. He holds his scimitar up ready to strike at either of the creatures that advance and speaks up. "Now you all just stay back..."
George feels that his knoweldge base does not include whatever undead force is animated the grasping entrails.
Toad grips his axe, forgetting to breath, though given the stench in the room this is probably a blessing.
The nurse, nearly out of its mind with fury and terror, slashes widly at the undead body parts attacking it.
One claw managed to impale the floating head, stoping it cold and ending its new life. The second claw barely missed the last limb, the last grasping hand, which still threatened the nurse.
While the hand managed to hit the nurse, it could not find purchase to grasp hold and begin choking it. The nurse monster looked to be on its last legs. One more solid hit would surely end it.
The nurse monster attacks one more time, trying to end the undead threat to its body.
Finally, its claws strike true and the last grasping hand falls dead. Amy's ectoplasm melts away, but the nurse monster is still grappled by the entrails and clearly exhausted.
"Quick, lets kill it before it can recover"
With that, he shoots his bow at the thing
for
Victor hesitated a moment but remembered where they were and how this creature had attacked them unprovoked. It would likely try to trick or deceive them again, it had made it's intentions clear. He swung his scimitar in a renewed attack.
Amalthia continues to wait to see if the entrails or the nurse win the battle.
Seeing her companions close into melee she watches with worry...
With Victor's swing, the nurse gives a final cry than falls still. The entrails, feeling its prey stop struggling, lets go, allowing the nurse to drop in a heap before the closed door. The undead entrails begin to sway back and forth, apparently looking for another victim to grab. Victor was just, thankfully, just out of reach.
Toad would like to simply run away from the flailing entrails, but he knows they need the body of the shifter to offer the guards down the hall. "The guards said they wanted to see the body. We need to get in there." He touches Victor's arm again, granting him good fortune.
"Wait no need to put anyone at extra risk. Can you hit it with some of those globs Amy? I can stand ready in case it advances. We can only take so much damage."
Amy nods. "I can try! My aim's not very good, though."
Amalthia flicks a glob of goop from her hands at the entrails, hoping to make them stuck in place.
"Yes!" Amalthia exclaims, hopping up in excitement to see her glob of... whatever hit the entrails.
The glob of ecotoplasm totally encased the the entrails, gluing them to the ruined body of the corpse. Though they struggled against the ectoplasm, the entrails could no longer reach the doorway, effectively making them harmless while the goo held.
Taking advantage of the situation, Amy blasts a few globs of acid at the entrails.
"Quick! I'm not sure how long this will last!"
The acid strikes the entrails clean. There's a horrible sizzling sound as the acid burns through them, causing their struggles to intensify. A horrid, sour smell fills the hallway. Within moments, the last of the poor man, now in so many ruined pieces, stops moving.
"Good work, just stay a few steps behind me. If we are fortunate this thing wont get to touch any of us."
"We better stay alert. Dr Oathsday may still decide to come out"
He continues to ready an arrow in case something hostile comes out the door (anything that doesn't immediately stop in the doorway is hostile :-)).
Probably easier to roll
for
"Is it... dead?" Amalthia asks hesitantly.
"Gods I hope so.." Toad says weakly, clutching at his stomach. He hesitantly prods at it with the head of his axe.
A beat passes, then another, then another. Nothing moves in the hallway. The nurse monster is dead, the entrails don't move again, and nothing opens the door to attack. The party is alone.
That was... awful! I'm going to see those tentacles in my nightm-- he breaks off, not wanting to discuss dreams further.
Let's grab that body and try to persuade these men to let us pass.
Victor gives the entrails a whack to make sure they aren't playing possum, when he's satisfied he turns to the others while guarding the door. "Do ye need a moment before we press on?"
Amalthia nods along with Malugar, then hesitates.
"I feel like we should... keep going?" she remarks--clearly surprised at herself. "This doctor she mentioned... We should check it out."
"Shouldn't we?" she adds hesitantly.
She takes a step towards the door that the nurse tried to escape through.
"I feel like we should. In my..." she casts a wary glance at the entrails as she finishes, " ...Gut."
"Sorry, but I disagree. I think that we need to rest up a little, restore ourselves before we head on. I'm almost out dead on my feet and we apparently have little healing magic remaining.
Going on is likely to be suicide. Lets at least see if resting up is an option"
Toad nods to George. "I don't think I have it in me to pull off any more healing tricks. That last one nearly knocked me on my feet. Maybe between this body and the one from the basement, we can seek safe passage and some time to rest. Figure out where to go from here."
"They said three and this other thing just looks like a dismembered body, perhaps we can persuade them but they may yet be reluctant. The only other possibly safe location is where we started if we barricade the door... but I'd rather not rest down there if we can help it."
He sighs "We have to retrieve the other body anyway, lets drag this one and that to them and hope we can reason with them... if not then resting below or pressing on wards is all we can do."
"No, there is another option. Two actually,
We could just rest in front of their barrier. Dare them to kill harmless people
Or we could fight them. At the moment, I'm not sure that doesn't give us better odds than going on
But I agree, lets try reasoning with them first :-). We've also got the body of that rat thing"
"You want to SLEEP in this place?" Amalthia blurts out, clearly considering this absurd. "Last time we slept there was the..." Abruptly she shuts her mouth. "I'm not sleeping here."
"Fighting a bunch of scared people isn't an option. Amy remarks in shock. She looks at Shirrin with worry.
Who would consider fighting other survivors? Is he... dangerous? A murderer or something?
Looking a strange mix of terrified and disgusted, Amalthia finishes. "We can try speaking with them. But we're not fighting them just because you're wounded and tired. That's horrible."
The crash of thunder from outside echo through ruined halls of the asylum.
The group gathers the bodies of the monsters they have killed and drag them to the barricade. "I know there are not as many of the shapeshifters as you told us to bring but we have taken injuries, there is nowhere safe to rest out here, please you need to leave us inside."
Amalthia looks at the guards and pleads, "Please?"
Toad shifts his large axe behind his back, in an attempt to appear friendly. "Please?" He adds, not caring how desperate he sounds.
Shirrin stands a little to the back. His bow is in hand but an arrow is NOT nocked nor in hand.
"Yes, please let us in. We have skills that can be of use to you. We are far more useful as live allies than as corpses"
Captain York looks past the barricade suspiciously. "Fine. But you'll have to surrender your weapons and be under guard while you rest. Then you're back out to finish the job. I just know there's one more monster out there somewhere. Open the door!
With that, one of the guards disappears into the gatehouse beside the barricade. A few seconds later the door to the party's right opens, the guard keeping his crossbow trained on the party at it's threshold.
"Thank you." she replies gratefully.
As they make way for her she creeps past the guards more than a little nervous to have crossbows aimed at her. Once inside she shows she's unarmed.
"I have no weapons, sir." she tells the guards meekly.
Somewhat reluctantly and somewhat unhappily but without overt complaint, Shirren hands over his weapons.
Following assumes that we have a fair bit of time
Now that he has time, he is going to examine the skull of the "nurse"
Pg 196 in Occult Adventures.
He likely (assuming it has 3HD or less) knows its race, age, gender and alignment.
He also wants to examine the body using his heal skill. When it pretended to have a broken leg he got the impression that its bones were not normal, that it had put its leg into a configuration that a human could not. He is hoping to find a non fatal method where one of these creatures can be identified (ideally when it is alive and moving but he'll take what he can get)
. If necessary, he would spend 1 point of inspiration to succeed
He would also use long term care on Ragnar and anybody else behind the barricade who wants it. Take 10 for the necessary 15 :-).
If we get that far, in the morning he would prepare 2 extracts of Cure Light Wounds.
Victor will hand over his weapons, hoping that the leap of faith in his fellow man would not be betrayed.
Once inside he would help George with any medical checks and try to put any people at ease. While George tends to his own injuries he says "They are still wary of us, perhaps we might ask if anyone has any wounds or ailments, between the two of us we may be able to do some good in this matter. It could also help put them at ease about us."
Captain York leads the party through the L shaped hall. At one end of the hall, a heavy blanket had been draped, obscuring the way past. Ignoring the blanket completely, York, opens a pair of double doors to the right, and leads the party into a small chapel that had been turned into a makeshift refugee camp. Improvised pallets lay beneath sculpted divinities while cooking fires burned beneath stained glass windows. Panes of violet and blue stained glass form spiraling patterns between prisonlike bars, while dozens of candles flicker from modest alcove shrines. Visible in the stain glass, the yellow fog continued to roll outside.
The chapel was clearly dedicated to Pharasma, with a prominant staute of the goddess before a sprialling depction of her holy symbol in stained glass. Other shrines were also present, including shrines to Adabar, Desna (with a beautiful 2-foot procelain statue of the goddess dancing among silk and stars), Erastil, Gozreh, Iomedae, Irori, Sarenrae, Shelyn, and even a small donation box for followers of Asmodeus or Zon-Kuthon.
However, it was clear what religious importance this place once served, it was now a place of survival. Nearly two dozen survivors were camped out in the chapel in a mixture of orderlies, nurses and patients. All heads turned when the party entered, but many patients soon returned to their private worlds of delusions. Many of the nurses eye the party distrustfully, moving slowly between them and as many of their patients as possible.
A woman dressed in black with one yellow eye and one blue eye who was tending the wounds of young boy walks over as the party enters.
"Who are they? she briskly asks York.
"Possibly more survivors, possibly not. We found them wandering the halls. They sound confused and but looked capable so I told them to finish our monster problem. They've left it half done, so after they rest up they're going back out to finish the job." York explained.
The woman, clearly in charge, looks over the party. "See if you can make yourselves useful. I'm sorry, but I'm too busy for idle talk right now. We can speak after you have finished what Captain York has sent you to do." With that, she turns and begins to make rounds of the survivors.
George is able to determine the monster was a 45 year-old, female, neutral evil doppelganger.
Looking over the bones of the doppelganger, he finds something odd. They appeared remarkably similar to human bones, but elongated or stretched and then shortened repeatedly in some way unnaturally, much like a piece of glass stretched out after heating it. Stranger still, the growth rings of the bones looked much like any normal 45 year-old woman, instead of the monster they were from. It is possible that looking for slight variations in movement, in particular in height between steps, could lead to noticing the doppelgangers before they attack.
He spends the night providing care for the small boy the woman in black was taking care of. He had countless human bite marks over him. he had apparently been attacked by other patients in the asylum and only barely escaped.
Victor will try calming down the man, first asking him what's wrong and seeing if there is some way he can help the man settle down. "How about you tell me you're upset and we'll see what we can do?" Trying to keep his voice calm.
Amalthia feels drawn to the porcelain statue. Cocking her head in curiosity, she crosses the room--ignoring the nurse--and walks right up alongside the statue.
"Desna..?" Amy breathes, not quite sure if this place was familiar, or the form of Densa herself. She places a hand on the silver butterfly necklace around her neck and thinks for a while, then tries her hand at praying.
Desna...? Are you there? I don't... I can't remember what I'm supposed to say to you. Or how. But I need your help! Please! Help me find out where we are and what's going on. Help me find my way out of this place. And...
She glances at the wedding ring upon her finger.
And if I have a family. A husband or... children... Please guide me to them. Let me remember them! I'm... I'm so afraid!
Breaking down in tears, Amalthia cries at the base of the porcelain statue of Desna.
After a long, sob she's reduced to soft sniffles. She lays there quietly for a while.
In time, Amy gets up. She wanders over to the window and sees the yellow mist outside. She shivers, then leaves the windows, remembering the sky will be no comfort tonight.
Amy looks around at the other survivors, but finds there's nothing she can do for them. She's no healer, and for those that need comfort? Well, she had no comfort to give.
Amy curls up at the base of the statue to Desna, but doesn't sleep. She can't. She WON'T. Not with that yellow mist outside. Not with monsters stalking her dreams.
She spends her night curled up at Desna's feet staring off into space. Looking but not seeing; she drifts somewhere between wakefulness and emptiness.
Shirrin would try and help heal people who need it (take 10 for a 15).
He'd study his companions, Captain York, and the rest to see if he thinks anybody else is a doppleganger.
@GM - Does Shirrin know enough to know that this is unusual for a doppleganger? I could easily be misinterpreting you, but you're making it sound as if this doppleganger was in the form of the nurse for an unusually long time
Assuming that he doesn't think any of his companions or York are dopplegangers he'd tell them what he knows about identifying Dopples
Toad looks around, completely in awe at the survivor's camp. He realizes their situation is both better and worse. Better because they've found other victims and prisoners, but worse because it means they, too, are trapped and have been unable to find a way out. How long will they be trapped in this place? Will they ever make it out?
Toad helps Shirrin with mundane healing of the wounded , then he seeks to assist with hauling wood and tending a fire. After seeing the flailing tentacle monster, he doesn't have much desire to eat.
He follows Amy with his eyes, watching wordlessly from a distance as she collapses on the floor. He can't be of any help to her, he knows. But he hopes she finds some comfort in the statue to which she prays.
Do the gods even hear us in this place? Are we beyond their reach?"
He hopes not, actually doubts it, for he's witnessed his own magic, and it must have come from somewhere. He doesn't feel like a sorcerer, but something else. Is there a spark of divinity in him? Glancing around at the various monuments, he finds some of them aesthetically pleasing, but none speak to him. Instead, he finds an empty spot against the wall and settles down cross-legged, his axe leaning behind him. Toothy skitters about, and Toad lets him go, guessing he won't wander too far. Toad closes his eyes and breathes deeply, trying to calm himself and clear his mind, searching his subconscious for memories, a prayer, anything really.
He tries reciting the names of the gods, those he can recall, but none answer back. He begins to grow frustrated, but corrects himself, refocusing, and listening. Feeling. And after a time, something answers. It isn't the statue of Desna twirling through her sky raiment, nor the key of Abadar. It is something deeper, not from up above, but down into the floor, beneath the stones and into the dirt and clay beneath him. He can feel the roots of ancient oaks, the bones countless animals that have died, the sea of rich soil and solid stone that surrounds them, even locked away in this prison. He can hear the countless lives of all the creatures that have come before, told in wordless tales through the beating of a great earthen heart. And he feels at peace, knowing that whatever torments are found within these halls, there is still a natural order that exists outside of it all. And that thought brings him comfort.